Jobs, roads, infrastructure deal by July 2020

A deal to lock in billions of dollars of desperately-needed infrastructure in southeast Queensland could be done as soon as next year.

A DEAL to lock in billions of dollars of desperately-needed infrastructure in southeast Queensland could be done as soon as July next year, Deputy Premier Jackie Trad says following the meeting to thrash out a SEQ City Deal.

Business leaders told Ms Trad, Federal Infrastructure Minister Alan Tudge and SEQ Council of Mayors chair Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner they needed to take the politics out of getting essential infrastructure for the southeast and backed the City Deal — a plan locking in all three levels of government to paying for and building transport and other essential infrastructure and jobs while protecting the Queensland lifestyle.

The need for a City Deal — which will set infrastructure, economic development and liveability priorities and funding models — was the number one point in an action plan developed from The Courier-Mail’s Future SEQ campaign last October.

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Federal Infrastructure Minister Alan Tudge, Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad and Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner.

“It was a very productive meeting,” Ms Trad said. “I was especially pleased by the enthusiastic level of engagement from industry.

“All levels of government are committed to ramping up our consultation and engagement so that we can reach a deal by mid 2020.”

The deal group are expected to announce further business roundtables outside Brisbane across the southeast.

UDIA Queensland CEO Kirsty Chessher-Brown said the priority for the property sector was getting all three levels of government working together, which the City Deal offered.

Property Council Queensland executive director Chris Mountford said the southeast needed certainty in what infrastructure was coming. He said industry’s three priorities were connectivity, jobs and liveability.

A City Deal will deliver tens of billions of dollars of public transport and congestion-busting road projects, investment in industries of the future, better planned and more affordable housing and protection of the region’s enviable lifestyle.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison committed to the concept in March after receiving the TransformingSEQ blueprint developed by the Palaszczuk Government and the SEQ Council of Mayors.

The Future SEQ campaign investigated the opportunities and challenges facing the southeast corner over the coming quarter of a century, with the population forecast to soar from 3.5 million to 5.5 million in 2043.

In a resounding success, the second and third Future SEQ priority actions points — developing a rapid rail network across southeast Queensland and preparing a bid to host the 2032 Olympic Games — have also gained strong momentum.